The present invention is directed to so-called flip-up label holders used in connection with merchandise display hooks and the like. In particular, the invention is directed to an improved design of such flip-up label holder, to both facilitate its mounting on a display hook and to make the label holder more resistant to accidental or unintended dislodgement.
Merchandise display hooks are commonly and widely used in connection with the sales of various kinds of prepackaged merchandise. Such hooks are designed to be mounted on apertured panel board, racks or other mounting means and are provided with a merchandise support arm which extends outwardly and suspends a plurality of merchandise articles. In many cases, merchandise display hooks are designed to provide an information label associated with the merchandise, containing pricing and other information, bar codes for scanning, etc. For this purpose, a label supporting arm, which may be integral with the merchandise support arm or mounted separately therefrom, extends above the merchandise supporting arm, typically to a position at least slightly forward of the outer end of the merchandise support arm.
An increasingly popular form of label display arrangement for merchandising hooks as described above utilizes a label holder which is pivotally mounted on the label holding arm, enabling the label holder to be pivoted upward and out of the way when desired. This facilitates removal of product from the merchandise support arm by customers, and also facilitates product loading by store personnel. To this end, the label supporting arm is provided at or near its outer end with a cross bar element on which the label holder is pivotally mounted.
A popular form of flip-up label holder is formed of thin plastic material, of extruded construction, and comprises front and rear panels flexibly joined along their bottom edges and providing an open top cavity for receiving a product label. A mounting clip is provided along the upper edge of the back panel for mounting of the label holder onto the cross bar of the label support arm. The mounting clip typically extends across the full width of the label holder, and includes a partially cylindrical cavity of an appropriate diameter to receive the cross bar and a downwardly opening entrance or throat. The dimensions of the throat are smaller than the diameter of the cross bar, such that the mounting clip must be cammed open in order to mount the label holder, but it then serves to retain the label holder in its mounted position, allowing it to be pivoted upwardly as desired. A center portion of the mounting clip is notched out in order to accommodate the outwardly extending label support arm, when the label holder is pivoted to an upwardly oriented position for product loading or removal.
The arrangements for installing of the pivoted label holder onto its cross bar mounting are characterized by the somewhat inconsistent and mutually exclusive requirements of easy installation and difficult removal. When initially installing the merchandise display hooks, store personnel must be able to quickly and efficiently mount the label holders with a minimum of time expenditure. At the same time, it is very important that the label holders not come off easily and accidentally, because efficient store operations are impaired if pricing and information labels become disassociated with the product.
In accordance with the present invention, a novel and improved form of flip-up label holder is provided which includes special features to both facilitate mounting of the label holder in the first instance and to inhibit its accidental removal or dislodgement thereafter. To this end, the mounting clip of the label holder is provided in the region of its throat or entrance with one or more rib-like projections which serve during the installation operations to assist in camming open the mounting clip to receive the cross bar and which function thereafter to render it more difficult to remove or dislodge the label holder from the cross bar. To advantage, the rib-like projections are inclined in a direction toward the cavity of the mounting clip to enhance the camming open of the clip as well as to inhibit movement of the cross bar out of the cavity.